Highfire by Eoin Colfer
He used to fly the skies and burn angry mobs, but nowadays he hides from swamp tour boats and gets out of his Laz-Z-Boy chair with the utmost reluctance. This once-powerful fire breather is now reduced to lighting Marlboros with nose sparks, downing Absolut in a Flashdance T-shirt, and binge-watching Netflix in a fishing hut while hiding down in the bayou. He was known for generations as Wyvern, Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie; today, he goes by Vern. He has, however, lived, unlike the others. He is the last dragon of his species. Vodka can’t, however, make the loneliness in his fiery core go away. The heyday of Vern is long gone. Unless they are?
Highfire by Eoin Colfer
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Young Everett “Squib” Moreau, a cunning Cajun swamp rat, does what he can to survive while attempting to spare his pious single mother’s feelings. He has finally made the decision to work for a shady smuggler, but on his first night, he sees the murder of his boss by a dishonest police officer.
Regence Hooke is not only a dishonest police officer; he is also an abhorrent human being who has a terrible desire for Squib’s mother. When Hooke uses a grenade launcher to pursue his concealed witness, Squib is saved from certain death by…a dragon?
Strange alliances can form in the swamp, so Squib decides to make a bargain with the scaly predator rather than risk being cooked alive so the dragon can keep his secret. In exchange for protection from Hooke, he can serve as his go-between (also known as familiar), bring him his vodka, keep him company, etc. The three of them are quickly heading straight toward an explosive conflict. A flaming reckoning is about to occur, and either dragons will go extinct for good or Vern’s heydays will return.
Highfire is an effortlessly witty and incessantly entertaining tour-de-force of comedy and action that marks a triumphant return to the genre-defying fantasy that Eoin Colfer is so well known for.
Highfire is at its best when Eoin Colfer gives the reader just enough details to enable them to create their own mental image of the scene. Uncle Eoin guides us on a fanciful voyage into a world where the last dragon is hiding out in the Louisiana swamps, sipping vodka, blaming the foolish gators, and hating people for putting him into his present humble condition of existence. Uncle Eoin performs as Vern the dragon. Excellent descriptions of the swamp and the wildlife found there, the use of language and the vernacular of that time, characters like the corrupt cop looking for a relationship with the mother of the young boy who becomes Vern’s “familiar,” and excellent descriptions of the swamp and the wildlife found there all contribute to the creativity in Colfer’s storytelling.
